Magazine Article
| June 7, 2017

The Power of Small Wins — And How to Keep Them Going

Source: Life Science Leader

By Teresa Amabile, Baker Foundation Professor and Research Director at Harvard Business School

Consider two facts. One: Many senior scientists and engineers in biopharma, during careers of 20, 30, even 40 years, have never been directly involved in developing a commercially successful drug. Not once. Two: Of all the things that can keep people engaged and productive in meaningful creative work — like discovering groundbreaking disease treatments — the single most important is simply making progress. Because drug R&D is likely to remain difficult even as technology advances, the challenge for you, as a leader, is this: How do you maintain the motivation of talented researchers, young and old, when progress is slow?